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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23002972">petty</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/justsomejerk/pseuds/justsomejerk'>justsomejerk</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Buffy Hates Every Man in Alex's Life, Buffy Manes - Freeform, Buffy is Cranky and Growls a Lot, Established Relationship, M/M, Michael Handles Alex Moving On Badly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 09:07:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,168</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23002972</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/justsomejerk/pseuds/justsomejerk</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyle and Buffy have had a rough start to their relationship, but Kyle is determined to win her over.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex Manes/Kyle Valenti</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>79</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>petty</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The one true obstacle to a solid Kylex relationship would be gaining Buffy's approval, and you can't convince me otherwise.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kyle truly doesn’t understand how it has come to this – having a 2 am showdown in his boxers with an ornery old lady to prove his love for Alex.</p><p>Okay, so maybe Alex didn’t quite call it a <em>test</em>. He is constantly apologizing for Buffy’s unfriendliness and seems to blame himself, in classic Alex Manes fashion. But Buffy's grumpiness has been getting them both down, and Kyle saw the opportunity to address it when Alex announced he had to spend a week in Albuquerque for work.</p><p>Alex was surprised when, without missing a beat, Kyle insisted he stay at the cabin and dog-sit. He only accepted it when Kyle offered a self-effacing smile and began dotting his face with light kisses, murmuring how much he would miss him. Any thought of voicing his fears that he would return to a destroyed home and a weary former boyfriend seemed to flee his mind when Kyle dropped to his knees in the middle of the kitchen and started undoing his belt.</p><p>Kyle will never admit it, but he has been losing sleep trying to figure out how to make Buffy like him. He and Alex have only been together a couple months now, and Alex is still so skittish and scared Kyle is going to leave him anytime he has a night terror or causes any mild inconvenience to their routine. He just wants to make Alex’s life content and complete, and he hates seeing the worried consternation on his face when Buffy tires herself out by growling at him too long.</p><p>And if being a part of Alex finding some peace and happiness means a staring contest with Buffy in the middle of the night as she growls and hisses, tense and ready to fight from her perch on Alex’s bed as Kyle half-heartedly holds out a treat and awkwardly coos at her, then so be it.</p><p>He’d gotten up to go to the bathroom and when he came back, Buffy had managed to knock the blanket to the floor, tousle the sheets, and splay her body across both pillows.</p><p>Kyle takes a tentative step forward and Buffy lets loose her angry howling, paws digging into the bed as she claims her territory.</p><p>“I’m only trying to give you a treat!” He sighs, cautiously throwing up his hands in slow motion as he crouches down to leave it on the floor by his feet.</p><p>He bows his head for a second and thinks about what this scene might look like from the outside looking in. He shakes his head at himself, laughing a little under his breath. He grew up with dogs; he loves them! And <em>they</em> love <em>him</em>. The fact that he’s become locked in this battle with an adorably lazy beagle over Alex’s affection is almost as absurd as the fact that aliens exist.</p><p>When a cautious stretch of an arm towards the blanket provokes a series of sharp yelps and Buffy almost vibrating off the bed in warning, Kyle sighs again and with a mournful glance backwards at the warm bed he usually shares with his boyfriend, he heads for the living room. He survived plenty of nights sleeping on that couch before Alex finally led him by the hand into his bedroom on their first official date; he can do it for another week.</p><p>-</p><p>“It can’t be that bad, Valenti. Buffy is the sweetest dog I’ve ever met. You’re probably just overreacting.”</p><p>As Rosa speaks from the backseat, Kyle hears the rustling of a bag and glares at her in the rearview mirror. “I can hear that. Get your hands off my dinner!”</p><p>She winks at him in the mirror and smiles through the handful of fries hanging out of her mouth. From the passenger seat, Isobel chuckles and rolls her eyes. “You know, Buffy loves <em>me</em>, and animals usually hate me. You’re probably just doing something wrong.”</p><p>Kyle grins ruefully. “You really have a knack for saying precisely the right thing exactly when I need to hear it, Evans.”</p><p>She shrugs, haughty as ever, following it up with a sincere twinkle in her eye that Kyle has noticed more often lately. Befriending Alex has been great for her, and while Kyle wasn’t initially enthused about having to spend time with one of the Pod Squad, she’s grown on him. Even Rosa reluctantly likes her now.</p><p>They soon turn into the driveway to the cabin and Rosa, Isobel and Liz all grab their Crashdown dinner and dash for the door, crying out Buffy’s name as Kyle trudges behind them, nervous about what her mood might be like tonight.</p><p>He enters to find Buffy surrounded by the women on the living room floor, giving her enthusiastic belly rubs, her face content and relaxed, paws sticking out at her sides as they all gush over her.</p><p><em>What the hell am I doing wrong?</em> He wonders as he grabs his bag and cuts a wide path around Buffy, hoping she doesn’t notice him and snaps out of her good mood, and settles to eat at the table.</p><p>He figures he is safe, considering Buffy is so happy with all the attention.</p><p>But he should have known it wouldn’t last. As they are watching a bad horror movie a few hours later, Buffy is snuggling at Rosa and Liz’s feet, Isobel is tucked into the opposite corner of the couch and Kyle on the chair beside them. Rosa shifts to get up and go to the bathroom but Liz tugs on her arm to keep her in place, insisting she would be a bad and neglectful sister for leaving her without an arm to cling to just before a jump scare.</p><p>Rosa and Kyle locks eyes and he playfully rolls them as he gets to his feet. She makes grabby hands at him and, despite Liz’s half-hearted cries of, “Et tu, Brutus?” Kyle grabs her forearms and pulls her out of Liz’s fierce hold and to her feet. It takes him a few beats to hear Buffy over Isobel’s laughter, Liz’s faux outrage and Rosa’s triumphant mockery.</p><p>She has jumped from her casual slump on the floor and is snapping at Kyle’s ankles, her sudden yelping high-pitched and continuous. Her paws are on his shins as she barks up at him, seemingly pushing him away from Rosa.</p><p>It is pure chaos trying to calm her down, and it leads to Isobel shoving him into the bedroom and yelling at him to stay put. When he hears her walking back to the living room and musing aloud, “Do you guys think I could mind-warp a dog into not hating Kyle?” he immediately yells an emphatic no and tugs on the doorknob, only to find Isobel telekinetically holding it in place.</p><p>“I was kidding!” She yells over the sounds of Buffy’s whimpering. He slumps over onto the bed while waiting, hearing them soothe her with treats and cuddles. He starts thinking he might actually fall asleep in the bedroom tonight.</p><p>Later, Rosa places her hands on her hips and calls him insensitive for trying to keep Buffy from her comfortable place on the bed after stressing her out so much.</p><p>No such luck, then.</p><p>-</p><p>A few days later, Kyle is sitting on the back porch when he hears a vehicle pull up to the cabin. He’s had the past few days off and he’s spent most of that time hanging out with his mom in town, only returning to his sad place on the couch in the evenings. Due to the unfriendliness inside, he spends most of his time on the porch. The screen door isn’t latched, so Buffy can nudge it open if she wants, but she has mostly settled on avoiding Kyle during six days trapped alone together, so he is peacefully catching up on some Star Trek on his tablet, eager to have new annoying nerd references to drop on his boyfriend when he returns.</p><p>Uncertain what to expect, he sets the tablet down and walks around to the front of the cabin to find Michael getting out of his truck, a scowl on his face when he sees Kyle walking towards him, at ease in sweatpants and his hair marginally less gelled than usual.</p><p>He adjusts the black cowboy hat on his head with a slight eye twitch and speaks with the scornful tone Kyle has come to expect from the man recently. “Valenti, what are you doing here?”</p><p>Kyle finds himself bristling at the tone, but tries his best to maintain the kind of poker face even Alex would be proud to witness. “Why <em>wouldn’t</em> I be at my boyfriend’s house, Michael?”</p><p>“Liz said he was out of town.” Michael has sauntered up to him, closer than he would like, a challenge in his tone.</p><p>Arms crossed, Kyle pulls his shoulders back and returns the challenge. “Then why are you showing up knowing he isn’t home? Breaking and entering isn’t your style.”</p><p>Kyle hates hearing the tension in his own voice. He is usually so composed in the face of Guerin’s attitude. Hell, he’s known for his bedside manner among patients regardless of the situation.</p><p>But Alex is usually by his side when they have to see his ex. Having Alex’s hand in his own always reminds Kyle of his aim to always be the best version of himself, and Alex isn’t here right now. Not to mention his back is sore from a week spent on the couch while Buffy has taken control of the bedroom, work has been more stressful than usual, and he is too emotionally drained to deal with Guerin’s conspicuous and spiteful jealousy right now.</p><p>“He has files I want. They’re about my family; I should have them.”</p><p>“Then text him and ask for them. You’re not coming inside. It’s for him to decide what he wants to do with that stuff.”</p><p>“Well, aren’t you such a prince, huh? Protecting your boyfriend from the big bad alien while he’s out of town.” Taking a break from sneering, Michael glances at the front door and Kyle notices his face loses some of the bravado at the sudden sound of barking.</p><p>Michael takes a step back, a nervous line setting in his shoulders, and Kyle realizes what is happening. “Are you scared of Buffy?”</p><p>The brief glimpse of vulnerability is quickly masked as Michael looks Kyle in the eye and glares. “No, I’m not <em>scared</em> of the dog. Why would I be scared of the dog?”</p><p>At the defensive tone, Kyle decides to indulge one of his worse instincts for the first time in awhile. In his mind, he hears Alex saying his name in that drawn-out tone where he knows Kyle is making a mistake but he might just sit back and let it happen anyway.</p><p>Kyle goes straight to the front door and, despite Buffy’s angry barks increasing in volume when he draws near, he opens the front door and unleashes her on Michael.</p><p>Buffy tears after the cowboy, who startles in a way that prompts a loud laugh out of Kyle. He’s never seen Buffy move this fast before, not even those nights she chased him out of the bedroom.</p><p>No wonder Michael is scared of her. He isn’t fast enough diving back into the drivers’ seat of his truck and Buffy has caught hold of his pant leg as he dangles half-in, half-out of the vehicle. Michael is shaking his leg, trying his best to get her to let go without hurting her, but to no avail. It turns out Buffy can be much more vicious than Kyle could have imagined.</p><p>After a few moments of delighting in Michael’s pain, he jogs over to them, pulls a chew toy out of his back pocket and starts shaking it and calling out Buffy’s name.</p><p>“Jesus, Guerin. What did you do to her?”</p><p>“Nothing! Alex and I had a fight one time and we may have raised our voices a bit and she was upset, but that’s it! God, just let go!” Michael’s voice is taking on a desperate tone he’s never heard before.</p><p>Kyle decides it’s time to pull out the big guns. From his other pocket, he takes his phone and after a moment of scrolling, he clicks play and Alex’s voice erupts from the tinny phone speaker, calling out to Buffy. When he’d first seen the audio file in his email, Kyle had been offended and insisted that he’s a grown-ass man who can handle a dog for a week. He was putting up a losing fight when Alex kissed him on the forehead and placated him with a casual, “Just in case, babe.”</p><p>She pauses mid-attack and jerks her head in the direction of the phone, pulling Michael’s pant leg with her. He grunts and shakes his ankle a little more to find that Buffy has torn almost clean through the material. It’s too late though, cause Buffy is dashing back towards Kyle and drags Michael for a half-second before a loud <em>riiip!</em> is heard and he stumbles backwards onto the ground.</p><p>For a second, Kyle considers pretending to care about Michael’s predicament, but then Buffy is on him, licking at the phone and over his knuckles and hand, affectionate and loving and he forgets that Michael is even there because he is petting Buffy and she is accepting it happily as Alex closes out the recording by calling her a good girl.</p><p>He hears Michael huffing unhappily but he just focuses on Buffy and lets her continue licking his hand long after Alex’s voice has gone away. Soon he hears Michael get back in his truck and peel away with a spray of gravel that miraculously doesn’t reach them and disturbs Buffy’s precarious show of affection.</p><p>Buffy sticks by his side for the rest of the night. When he cautiously enters the bedroom that night in his boxers with a treat in one hand and her favourite squeeze toy in the other, she is back settled on the pillows but her growl is lower than normal and soon fades away as he takes slow steps towards the bed.</p><p>He beams over at Buffy when he lays down on a tiny corner of the pillow. He is practically hanging off the bed, but still. It’s a win.</p><p>She casually throws a paw across his face to lay there and Kyle smiles to himself. Yep, definitely a win.</p><p>-</p><p>“Well, this is a surprise.”</p><p>Kyle is barely conscious when the voice reaches him. A few moments pass before it registers and his eyes pop open to see Alex staring down at him and Buffy cuddled up together in bed. He is smiling with surprise and fondness, taking in the way Buffy is sprawled over Kyle’s abdomen fast asleep and Kyle’s hand is gently resting just under her ear where she likes to be scratched.</p><p>“Babe.” Kyle’s eyes drift shut again sleepily and he raises his arms to grab for whatever part of Alex he can reach.</p><p>Alex offers a hand for him to clasp, and Kyle feels himself smiling lazily, full of adoration for his gorgeous boyfriend. “I missed you. We missed you.”</p><p>“I know.” His voice is amused and Kyle can feel Alex’s lips ghost over his hands before he begins kneading his fingers into the crease at the base of his thumb. Kyle pushes his head further back into his pillow and allows a moan to slip past his lips at the relief of having Alex's hands on him again after a week without.</p><p>Within minutes, Alex is curled up behind Kyle, their hands tangled up together in Buffy’s fur, his nose rubbing at the nape of Kyle’s neck. Under his breath, he murmurs, “Care to explain how you won her over?”</p><p>Kyle hums low and shifts to lay on his back, pulling Alex’s hand close to his chest and finally opening his eyes, fully awake. “You didn’t tell me she hates Michael even more than she hates me.”</p><p>Alex frowns and moves his head to rest on Kyle’s shoulder. He peers up into his eyes and asks with a worried edge creeping into his voice: “Michael came by?”</p><p>“He didn’t last long before Buffy drove him away. She ripped up his jeans, too.” His face twitched with the effort to keep from smiling.</p><p>“Kyle.” There was that tone he’d been missing, the playful suspicion at work. “Did you egg her on?”</p><p>“I would never. How dare you disparage my good name that way?”</p><p>Alex smirks and lightly presses his fingers to Kyle’s jawline, nudging him to look him in the eye. “You just stood by and let her attack, didn't you?”</p><p>Kyle pretends to look outraged for several long beats, making sputtering noises and flailing his free hand in the air as Buffy lets out a long sleepy sigh, lifts her head lazily before licking at Alex’s hand and settles back into sleep against Kyle’s stomach.</p><p>“It was just so satisfying!” It burst out of him involuntarily, and he throws his hands up in surrender.</p><p>Alex lets out a throaty laugh into the bare skin of Kyle’s shoulder. In the middle of his gasping breaths, he teases, “So petty!”</p><p>Cupping the small of Alex’s back with his palm, Kyle hauls him up until Alex gives in and props himself up on an elbow. “You should have seen it though-”</p><p>“Truly the pettiest.” Alex clucks his tongue and shakes his head at Kyle, even as he lets himself be pulled chest-to-chest. “Letting Buffy do your dirty work!”</p><p>Kyle’s smile falters for a moment, concern deepening the line on his forehead, and he looks away. He shifts as if to move out of the circle of Alex’s arms, but he stubbornly holds Kyle against him, knowing exactly what is flashing through his boyfriend’s mind right now, and he offers a rueful and besotted smile. “It’s not bullying to be amused, Kyle. Michael’s given you such a hard time this last while. I'm so proud of you for resisting the bait so often.”</p><p>Kyle looks at him thoughtfully. After a moment, he smiles cautiously and buries his face in Alex’s neck.</p><p>Tangling his fingers in Kyle’s hair, messing it up in that precise way that makes him feel like Kyle is <em>his</em>, he says quietly: “Can I tell you a secret?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Sometimes I love that she hates Michael, too.”</p><p>They pause for a second, just staring at one another, before cracking up completely. Buffy whines for a few moments about her sleep being disturbed, yet soon her heavy monotonous breathing returns and they know she's asleep again. Eventually Alex feels Kyle chuckle low, their bodies so close together the vibrations rattle through his chest, and Kyle slyly declares in his ear: “Buffy likes me <em>so</em> much more than Michael.”</p><p>
  <span>Alex places kisses under his ear, along his jaw, along his cheekbones, and smiles up at him adoringly, his eyes bright. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He whispers back: “I like you more, too.” </span>
</p>
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